vertu

Forms

vertu f (plural vertus)^[1] Old French vertud and vertut.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French vertu, inherited from Latin virtūs (“distinctive quality of a man, merit, courage”), through its accusative virtūtem.^[2][4][5][6] The Latin noun is derived from vir (“man”), as opposed to woman, and first named the qualities held to be manly: courage, moral energy, then any quality or merit; it was also used of plants and things.^[5][6] Its moral sense grew in Latin under the influence of Ancient Greek ἀρετή (aretḗ).^[6]

Cognate with Italian virtù, Romanian virtute, Occitan vertut, Catalan virtut, Spanish virtud and Portuguese virtude.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century, as vertud in the Passion, meaning “power”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “power”, was still common in the 17th century, as in faire vertu “to have an effect” (Corneille, 1643); in medieval religious language it also meant a miraculous power or a miracle.^[2][5][8] From the Chanson de Roland on it took up the Latin senses “courage, valour” and “bodily strength”, which lived on into the classical period.^[2][5][9] Bloch and Wartburg see in this old sense of force the source of “property that produces an effect”, as in la vertu d'un remède, and of en vertu de “by virtue of” (1659).^[6][2]

In a Christian setting, from about 1145, vertu became the steady disposition to do good, the sense that has stayed alive.^[2][5] The plural named an order of angels (1170), and particular virtues were listed: the cardinal virtues (1279) and the intellectual virtues in Oresme (about 1370).^[2][10] In the 17th century it came to mean a woman's chastity (Racine, 1677), whence de moyenne vertu (1732) and de petite vertu (1909) for women of easy morals.^[2][6] Molière's dragon de vertu dates from 1662 and prix de vertu from 1820.^[10] The word also gave oaths such as vertubleu.^[7]

Timeline

• late 10th century – Vertud “power” in the Passion.^[2]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses it for strength and valour.^[2]
• c. 1145 – Wace uses it for moral strength and for a particular quality.^[2]
• c. 1150 – Wace uses it for a thing's power to produce an effect.^[2]
• 1170 – Maurice de Sully names the Virtues, an order of angels.^[2]
• 1279 – First record of the cardinal virtues.^[2][10]
• 1643 – Corneille uses faire vertu.^[2][5]
• 1659 – Duez records en vertu de.^[2]
• 1677 – Racine uses it for a woman's chastity.^[2]
• 1832 – It names an allegorical figure of a Christian virtue.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. virtue, the steady disposition to do good; moral excellence.^[7][11][2]
2. A particular moral quality: les vertus cardinales, the cardinal virtues.^[11][2]
3. (dated) A woman's chastity;^[11][2] de petite vertu, of easy virtue.^[11][2]
4. A property or power of a thing to produce an effect: la vertu d'un remède.^[11][6][2]
5. En vertu de: by virtue of, under the authority of.^[2][6]
6. (archaic) Courage, strength of mind.^[7]
7. (theology, plural) The Virtues, an order of angels.^[2][5]
8. An allegorical figure of a virtue, written with a capital.^[11][2]

Word family

• vertueux
• évertuer

Related words

• viril
• virtuose
• Latin virtus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 517b
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)